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Director John Schlesinger stepped briefly into the front rank of commercial
filmmakers with Far from the Madding Crowd, a pastoral classic made
possible by the rising star of actress Julie Christie.. Schlesinger, Christie
and writer Frederick Raphael enjoyed a major success with 1965's
Darling but MGM was surely eager to get the star of Doctor
Zhivago back on the screen in a period romance.

The faithful adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1874 epic follows a format strikingly
similar to supermarket-rack romance novels. Primarily a poet, Hardy stated that
he wrote the novel primarily as a way of making a living. But it is also an
authentic picture of the hardships and social conventions of rural English
life. The title is an archaic expression meaning, "away from the frenzied life
in the city". It's chronically misspelled as "maddening".

In the farm country of South West England a spirited beauty must deal with the
amorous attentions of three very different suitors. Bathsheba Everdene (Julie
Christie) is not a wealthy woman, but she's determined to choose a man for love
instead of simple security. Shepherd and farmer Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates) is
disappointed when Bathsheba turns down his proposal. Suddenly made penniless by
a cruel trick of fate, Gabriel wanders for several months before taking a job
as shepherd on a large farm. His master turns out to be none other than
Bathsheba, who has just inherited the farm from an uncle. Now just an employee,
Gabriel must swallow his pride when the rich William Boldwood (Peter Finch)
visits and falls deeply in love with his new neighbor. Bathsheba does her
polite best to discourage him as well. As Boldwood's obsession grows, she meets
the man of her dreams, the handsome soldier Frank Troy (Terence Stamp). Frank
has no interest in farm work but Bathsheba could not be happier. The panicked
Boldwood tries to bribe his rival to move on, only to find out that Frank and
Bathsheba have already married.

Far from the Madding Crowd's episodic structure is ready-made for the
movies. The set pieces and "cliffhanger" moments are what made it popular as a
newspaper serial in 1874. A crazy sheepdog runs an entire herd over a cliff.
Bathsheba foolishly sends a valentine to Boldwood that reads, "Marry Me".
Storms and fires threaten the farms. Troy seduces Bathsheba with a stunning
display of swordsmanship, slashing within inches of her face. One suitor
decides to commit suicide by walking into the sea. A desperately hoped-for
marriage so disappoints another suitor that he resorts to violence.

The story's most resonant subplot involves a good maid named Fanny Robin
(Prunella Ransome), who loves and almost marries Frank Troy. A tragic
wedding-day mistake leads Fanny to a terrible end reminiscent in tone to
Hardy's later Tess of the d'Urbervilles. The memory of Fanny haunts
Frank almost like a gothic curse.

The movie was considered by many to be a disappointment, and although Julie
Christie's performance could not be bettered the role did not make her into a
top female star. This clearly happened because Schlesinger and Raphael wanted
to billboard the book, not the movie stars, a gambit that would be unthinkable
today (think Keira Knightley). Viewers expecting bodice-ripping love scenes
might think the movie boring. Dramatic situations are not lacking, but
Crowd doesn't signal melodramatic turns with bombastic music. Nobody
appears at the curtain to deliver moral verdicts on the characters.

Movies about strong women who drive a selection of suitors (usually three) to
distraction are rarely this even-handed. Think of Johnny Guitar, where
the weirdly masculine Joan Crawford scrambles the hormones of the title
character, an outlaw called The Dancin' Kid, and an inexperienced boy. Poor
Bathsheba Everdene invites disaster just by being a little indecisive. We
naturally side with the patient Gabriel Oak and his offer of a lifetime of
affectionate companionship and loyalty: "At home by the fire, whenever I
look up, there you will be. And whenever you look up, there I shall be."
The eligible Squire Boldwood's passion becomes so intense that it might as well
be a psychosis. He collects gifts to his "future bride" and is so sickened that
he allows his crops to be destroyed in a storm.

The dashing Frank Troy is the closest the story comes to a villain. Investing
little of himself, he accepts Bathsheba's worship as a matter of course. Yet he
proves to have a conscience when it comes to the luckless Fanny Robin. When
Frank arrives to reclaim Bathsheba, it's up to us to decide if he's turned a
new leaf or is simply reclaiming his property. Far from the Madding
Crowd doesn't telegraph "correct" interpretations of its characters'
motivations.

John Schlesinger's portrait of country life is rich and vibrant. Bathsheba
refuses to be patronized at the agrarian markets, while Gabriel must wait on
line to beg for work from the visiting landowners. Period songs play a big role
at the parties Bathesheba throws for her workers. William Boldwood must cajole
his farmhands into operating a newfangled threshing machine, quite a mechanical
marvel for the 1860s. The film recreates an elaborate period circus, featuring
an exciting performance built around the penny-dreadful character "Dick Turpin,
the Highwayman Rogue".

With its quartet of superior performances, Far from the Madding Crowd
has aged better than most of MGM's Road Show attractions from the 1960s. As
Schlesinger purposely blocks an easy interpretation of Bathsheba's intentions,
her romantic dilemma makes for good post-screening debate: which is the better
suitor, and why? Is Bathsheba Everdene to be blamed for being indecisive and
fickle, or are her problems just the result of bad luck?

Warners' DVD of Far from the Madding Crowd is a handsome
presentation of the 1967 epic. Nicolas Roeg's celebrated cinematography is
light and reddish in some exteriors, which may be the result of a slight fading
of the negative elements. But overall the film has a rich and satisfying
appearance, especially the scenes in the fields that appear to reproduce famous
paintings. Original prints were in 70mm with six-track stereo, and the disc
offers a remastered DD 5.1 mix.

We're also informed that this copy is the film's International Version, which is three minutes longer. An Overture (approximately 3 min.) and an Intermission/Entr'acte (approx. 2 min.) are present but the new footage is said to be a from a bloody cockfight sequence attended by Terence Stamp's character.

The only extra is a trailer that announces that Bathsheba "gave herself to
three men", which is true only in the verbal sense -- we're talking about a
lady, after all. The colors are perhaps a bit more accurate on the trailer, but
Julie Christie's diamond-blue eyes would cut through any transfer.

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